I guess my oft-pondered, long-sought trip to Israel is on delay. The following video is offensive and NSFW. Here's the rest of the setup commentary from the source:
On the eve of President Barack Obama’s address to the Muslim world from Cairo, Egypt, I stepped out onto the streets of Jerusalem with my friend Joseph Dana to interview young Israelis and American Jews about their reaction to the speech. We encountered rowdy groups of beer sodden twenty-somethings, many from the United States, and all eager to vent their visceral, even violent hatred of Barack Obama and his policies towards Israel.
There's more commentary here, basically a questioning of why journalists are not following this story, and a note on how the sentiments and behavior seen in the video above are very much representative of American Jews in Israel.
Like Cajun's reaction, I'm just sort of shocked that these are educated folk. And the parallels to drunken fratboy delirium are striking. Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men (and women), indeed.
Wow. That's some serious hate. Did they edit out positive, or even indifferent, responses to make a point?
ReplyDeleteWow, they are astonishingly ill-informed. You don't expect young Americans who are traveling the world to be as ignorant as these yahoos. How the hell do you find yourself visiting Jerusalem and have no idea who Netanyahu is? How do you believe that Obama has Hitler tendencies? How do you fail to understand that Obama doesn't need to make a grand speech to the world's Jewish population because THE U.S. IS NOT AT WAR AGAINST ISRAEL?
ReplyDeletePlus, Obama is no "faggot." Most of the women I know would do him in a second.
Yikes! Do not want.
ReplyDeleteThere is something off about this. If the notion of it being "representative" is meant to imply we should be concerned about Jews or Israelis at large behaving or thinking in this fashion, I'm not persuaded. Who cares about people (children!) like this? Move on.
ReplyDeleteBesides DAMMMMN! several thoughts come to mind.
ReplyDeleteFirst and foremost, perhaps these drunken group of youths cannot be taken as representative of the whole. Certainly they express some strong sentiments (maybe that's an understatement), but in my best estimation, I judge the mainstream to be a bit more moderate. And keep in mind, the guy with the camera and microphone usually heads directly for the fringes because that is where you're sure to get a story.
But let's just say these young people are representative of the mainstream of Jewish political thought. Then President Obama's agenda is bound to fail because all he asked both the Israelis and the Muslims to do is simply recognize the humanity of the other. If they are unable to do that, then where are we?
I know that they say Israelis are violent and hateful, but I didn't know they were that bad. Even America Jews were being hateful. If that were American Muslims talking that way (even if it's thru their drunkenness) they would be arrested for terrorist ideation.
ReplyDeleteI have seen people interviewed after racist rallies and that don't speak that hatefully. This was just a night out on the town, and they were ready to spew hate to anyone who would listen. WOW!
This is why I seriously miss the atomic bombs, eliminate these freaking ignorant assholes in these countries that are stupid and clueless about life.
ReplyDeleteIn a few years they will come here and try to live a better life because they know they are pointless in life.
This is really scary, thanks for bringing it to my attention.
ReplyDeleteI don't think they're evil or even that bad, except for the ones doing racial slurs. If you took a bunch of young, drunk, hormonally raging kids of any culture you'd get such things. Come on, if Bush was still in power and you got a bunch of drunk inner city kids or young "Stuff White People Like" kids trashed and asked them questions about Bush, you wouldn't get the same type of over the top hyperbole and rage from them? I've seen Republicans call Bush a Nazi, fascist, told to go fuck himself, a racist cracka, etc. It's just because he's The Anointed One that the urban liberal crowd is suddenly so averse to the crudeness. If they were using the same passionn and vitriol and language to deride Bush I'm sure the same people bashing it would cheer it.
ReplyDeleteIt's tacky and crude, but let's be honest, most Obama supporters are and have shown themselves to be capable of the same type of behavior when Bush was in office.
T: I always appreciate your conservative counterbalance, but come on; I don't think anyone gets away with this level of "over the top" venom verbiage.
ReplyDeleteI'm a Jew. I'm watching this. I feel disgusted, I want to vomit.
ReplyDeleteSadly, I think variations of this kind of thinking have indeed served as a major obstacle to peace in the region, and attitudes like this have been allowed to go on unchecked within the Jewish religion for too long. While this may have been an extreme and 'frattish' example, views like these are too often coddled among American Jews. Just nauseating.
these kids are drunk and acting up for the camera, yes. But they can only be semi-literate at best, so these must be the political views of their parents or what they catch from news soundbites while they're flipping through radio stations looking for EMs latest hit.
ReplyDeletewow! the girl at 1:03, the "polisci major", can we find out where she goes - that is one college that needs to be stripped of its accreditation.
They are American Jews who are in Israel.
ReplyDeleteWe've got the majorities, so why not take them out for a spin?
ReplyDelete